9 tips for people who want to start a business with clean food

Brand name, location, investment capital, supply source, marketing methods... are factors to consider when deciding to run a clean food store.

The clean food market is currently a fertile land for those who love business. Vietnamese consumers increasingly prefer foods with clear origins, complying with quality regulations or food safety certifications. However, not every clean food store that is established can be maintained successfully. To sustainably develop his brand, Mr. Tran Quan - CEO of the Soi Bien clean food store chain has spent a lot of effort and made meticulous plans before deciding to invest.

He said that the first step of the plan that everyone needs to pay attention to is "Preparing the store". This issue includes 9 basic things including naming the brand; choosing a location; capital; goods source; human resources; marketing; equipment, essential items and how to build the store; store decoration.

Brand name

Branding helps affirm the mission, vision and what the store can bring to society through the business model. It needs to create a difference and impression in the name, slogan, logo, and identity. The brand name should not be too long or difficult to remember, nor can it be duplicated, making it difficult for customers to find.

Any ideas can be brought up for discussion and feedback. In addition, the owner can also hire a media agency to build a professional image of the store from the beginning.

Location

This will determine up to 40% of the success of the business model. The clean food store should be located in an area with a high population density; near schools, markets or places with a lot of office workers. In urban areas far from markets and supermarkets, you should open a store on the first floor of an apartment building for the convenience of residents.

The initial store area should be about 35-50m2. The frontage should be at least 4m wide for customers to park their cars conveniently. The sidewalk in front should be shaded to avoid direct sunlight into the store, which can easily damage the food displayed inside.

Currently, the rental fee ranges from 6-12 million VND per month for suburban areas and 15-35 million VND per month for central areas. The choice of location depends entirely on each person's financial capacity. For those who are just starting out, the safe level to rent a business location is 10-15 million VND.

Investment capital

According to Mr. Tran Quan: "The problem is not how much capital you have to open a store, but whether you have enough passion, diligence and determination to open a store or not."

In fact, many stores are opened with a capital of about 100 million VND, but thanks to good operating methods, revenue increases day by day. Besides, there are also stores with an investment of up to a billion VND in capital but after a few months, they close. Sustaining in the market depends on many factors, but the most important is the determination and method of the owner.

With experience in opening 9 stores, Mr. Tran Quan said: "Currently, to open a clean food store, you need to invest at least 250 million VND". He also shared that if there is not enough capital, business people can refer to the preferential credit package serving the development of clean agriculture of Agribank. Accordingly, borrowers are applied a preferential interest rate 0.5-1.5% lower than the normal lending interest rate. The bank will prioritize considering granting short-term credit without collateral for good customers or traditional customers of Agribank.

Source of goods

One of the important factors to create the success of a clean food store is the source of goods that ensure food safety and hygiene, have a clear origin, and are stable in quantity and quality. For example, in Hanoi, store owners can find sources of vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs at facilities or farmers in Hoa Binh, Soc Son, Vinh Phuc..., seafood products can be found in Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh...

Prioritizing locations close to the store helps keep food fresh and saves on transportation costs and time. Before importing goods, the owner needs to learn how to preserve each type of food, understand the production process, the supplier's capacity and sign a contract committing to close cooperation between the two parties to attach the responsibility of the manufacturer to their products.

Clean food stores should focus on product lines produced using organic methods, natural products, regional specialties or according to VietGap and GlobalGap standards.If having difficulty with the source of goods, shop owners can contact the "Clean Agriculture" program for advice and to be provided with an address to buy agricultural products licensed by the Department of Quality Management.

Human Resources

In the early days, the store owner should be the one working directly here and only need to recruit 2-3 main staff (full-time) including cashier and accountant, sales person and food processor, and delivery person and picker.

Initially, due to the small number of customers, the store owner needs to take advantage of the time to train the staff, helping them become flexible. After a few months, when they understand the work, the store owner can retrain others to replace him, taking over the general management position.

Marketing

Before opening a store, the owner should prepare about 2,000-5,000 leaflets to introduce, at the same time, learn about shopping habits, needs, create relationships with local people and local authorities. This will create an effective word-of-mouth marketing channel in the area where the store is located, from there, people around will quickly find it.

In addition, store owners should also create online marketing and sales channels before opening through websites, Facebook, Zalo, YouTube..., to promote the brand to customers.

Equipment, essential items and how to build a store

The store needs at least one glass-front freezer to display frozen goods (800-1,000 liter capacity is preferred), next to it is a refrigerator to store meat and fish; plus 1-2 fruit cabinets. In addition, shelves for vegetables and fruits, processing and packaging equipment, vacuum machines, etc., are also needed from the beginning.The arrangement of shelves and display cabinets needs to be eye-catching and effective, attracting the attention of buyers.

Other items such as computers, scales, cash registers, receipt printers, etc., are also indispensable equipment to create professionalism and responsibility of the store towards customers. Store owners should prepare a receipt printer because consumers always want transparency in prices. That is also the difference compared to buying goods at the market.

In addition, indispensable things for a clean food store are a business registration certificate, a certificate of registration of a qualified safety facility, documents proving the origin and source of food...

Store decoration

The store should be designed with bright, natural colors such as green or white to create a friendly and clean feeling. Avoid dark colors because they will cause an adverse reaction and are not eye-catching.

The outside of the store should have a sign system to attract customers' attention, but it must be placed according to regulations so as not to spoil the urban beauty. Inside, there should be a picture of the owner visiting the local food suppliers, a certificate of food origin, or a few sentences expressing the owner's mission and dedication. This will help buyers have more confidence in the quality of the products on sale.

Business is a field that requires many factors, determination, and daring to think and act of the owner. A newly opened store can attract customers with its novelty and uniqueness, but it also has many potential difficulties that need to be considered, and the owner needs to be sensitive and creative throughout the business process.

According to VNE